Marine City officials are weighing the costs of renovating the current home of city government or moving their offices to the Washington Life Center.

Officials said the process has only just begun, and there is no official deadline to figure things out.

The city has been in the Guy Center at 303 S. Water St. for more than a decade. It moved into the community center while figuring out options for the City Hall at 300 Broadway St. The River Rec Teen Zone and Friends of City Hall groups have leased 300 Broadway.

“We now are in a position where we need to do something about our city offices,” said City Manager Elaine Leven. “Whether that be staying here and bringing this building up to ADA current standards or finding another location, we aren’t compressed by other constraints.”

After so much time in the Guy Center, Leven said, “Another couple months or a year, I don’t think, is going to make much of a difference. It is something that I know this commission would like to see resolved.”

City commissioners got a look at estimate costs at their meeting March 15.

Basic repair costs to make the Guy Center more accessible were estimated at about $72,250.

That does not include converting the building’s dumbwaiter to an ADA-compliant elevator between its first floor and basement, which would cost $150,000. City offices are on the first floor. Leven told commissioners, “I’m still unclear as to whether that’d be necessary.”

Washington Life Center costs were estimated at $71,100, and include building a few walls, doors, drywall, insulation, windows, upgrading two office restrooms, installing a kitchen area. About $45,000 of that included moving costs.

Commissioner James Turner noted it didn’t include any rental costs for occupying space at Washington.

Leven, on Thursday, said that still hadn’t been figured out.

The Washington Life Center, a former elementary school at 403 N. Mary St., is owned by the East China School District but leased by the St. Clair County Council on Aging.

Scott Crawford, executive director of the council, the city would sublease part of the school, and he wasn’t sure yet how much it would ask the city to pay.

“It’s kind of just in the planning stages. We’re not even sure it’s something that will work. But we have some meetings coming up,” he said. “… The reason we’re open to exploring it is because if they had office space in the building it’d be a benefit to our seniors that use the building if they had access to city departments.”

Leven said she was looking at two to three rooms if the city does move to Washington. She said they’d be able to use space at the former school for meetings, as well, instead of the fire station at 200 S. Parker St.

Leven and Public Works Superintendent Mike Itrich cautioned commissioners that the estimates were their calculations and not that of an architect or engineer.

“That would be another thing that we could do,” she said. “We would have to do an RFP to get a professional to do a design for the Guy Center, which should include estimates of what it would cost.”

But first, city commissioners would have to decide that’s where they’re going to stay.

“I don’t want to put us in a position where we’re going to spend a lot of time doing that if that is something we don’t plan on doing,” Leven said.

On Thursday, she said she was unsure what would become of the Guy Center if city government moved out.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.